Bliss
by Nasima Al Amreeki
Summary: An alternative ending to 'Love Never Dies' because I can't seem to find closure in the ending. I sound like a crazy person don't I?


**Please don't flame just because you don't like R/C. I'm trying to come to terms with the way 'Love Never Dies' ends and believe it or not this helps. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own 'The Phantom of the Opera' by Gaston Leroux, Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'The Phantom of the Opera', or Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Love Never Dies'.**

It had been six months since that fateful day in Coney Island. I wouldn't sing, not if I didn't know what was going on and when I found out, I was mad. Mad at Raoul, for choosing now to realize he loves me still. Mad at Erik for manipulating Raoul in that way, to _win_ me. Most of all I hated both of them for betting on my love for the other. I loved both of them, I still do.

My husband, my Raoul. I had to choose him. For even with all the pain he had put Gustave and me through, he was still my husband. I lied to him about Gustave; I lied to him about Erik. I betrayed him on the eve of our wedding, yet he still married me. He loves me; he's in love with me. And I'm in love with him.

And Erik, the infamous Phantom of the Opera. Yes, it's true, I didn't choose him. He murders people, he scams people, and he tortures people. He's all that's bad and horrible in the world. Yet, he's gentle, he's kind, a genius, an artist, and he loves. He was there for me when my father died, when Mme. Giry couldn't even comfort me. He helped me sing again, he gave me a voice when I thought all was lost. But, even if he thinks thought he was, he wasn't in love with me and I wasn't in love with him.

Finally, Gustave, my beautiful Gustave. His needs were taken into the utmost consideration before I did anything. He saw Raoul as his father and Erik as a beast. Even though Raoul wasn't much of a father for him, I could see he loved him. But I knew he needed to know Erik, to get to know Erik.

So I made a deal. I would sing, but I was to leave with Raoul and Gustave. However, Erik was permitted to visit Gustave as frequently as he wanted, as long as Raoul and I were always kept informed of his whereabouts. And if either one were upset about my decision, I would leave with Gustave and they neither of them would be able to see the two of us for as long as they both shall live. So naturally, I won.

"Christine?" I heard a voice whisper at my side. I turned to see the face of my husband beside me. Since we had returned to France, Raoul and I had deserted the common practice of sleeping in two chambers in hope to help with our… intimacy issues along with… other things.

"Yes?" I questioned. Raoul's eyes were playful again, like they were when we first reunited in my dressing room. He's breath no longer reeked of alcohol, we had the servants dispose of all alcohol that we had. He only drank at parties, of which he and his friends carefully monitored.

"What are you thinking about?" He inquired, instructing me to flip over onto my stomach. His fingers lingered their way down my bare back, fully exposing me from the waist up. He then ticked his way up my back, gently moving my hair to the side as he slowly started massaging my back, a morning ritual for when we both had no place to be.

I told him all but one thing that had been on my mind that morning. He in return, told me about his thoughts. We talked about Gustave and how he was growing up so fast. He had become Erik's protégé in all things musical. We had told him about Erik being his real father, but he still treated Raoul as if he were his father, and Raoul treated him as a son. Both of us were so joyful that things turned out the way they did. Erik even found a wife in Meg, shocking as they both found it. All of us couldn't believe it when the Girys returned to France! Apparently Meg had contacted Erik about problems with Coney Island. After that, no one quite knows how they came to be in a relationship. But they were gay whenever the other was around. They married within a week of the Girys coming back to France (Coney Island is now being run onsite by some one named Fleck) and Meg is 3 months with child. Meg accepts and loves Gustave as Erik's son, which is the best any of us could have hoped for.

As for Madame Giry, she is here, watching over all of us, as her children. She adores Gustave and is so excited to have a grandson of her own. She still attends the Operas at the new opera house and rents out box five for every performance, at disposable of all of us.

We were finally happy, without anything to worry about. I sang, occasionally, at events and we were debt free and, probably, richer than ever. Raoul hadn't been called to duty for the armed forces for about five years and we doubted they'd ever call upon him again.

We laid at each other's side for the longest time, happy with the silence that surrounded us as so many nights just a mere six months before had been filled with anger and hurt. Raoul kept his arm around me as I rested on his bare chest. My fingers found their way tracing his abs while my mind is reeling. The minutes pass and I feel Raoul tensing up, knowing that something wasn't at rest in my mind.

"Little Lotte?" He asks, breaking me away from my thoughts. Slowly I start turning my head to the left, finally facing him. I start to smile as I see the look on his face. If only he knew what I was really thinking.

"Yes?"

"What's wrong?" I feel a wide smile spreading on my lips, as his turns from worry, to confusion.

"Well," I begin, sitting up in our bed as he does the same, me pulling the sheet up over my chest, "I've been a little hungry lately. I mean, I don't know what it is; I just seem to want to keep eating! And I feel as if I'll start to become moodier soon. Some mornings I even feel sick."

Raoul's face starts turning from confusion into hope as my words sink into his brain.

"Are you…" He begins but I cut him off with just a nod of my head. He pulls in close to my face and we kiss, more passionately than ever before. Time seemed to move on, our only indication of it being the clock that was across the room. We were in pure bliss.

**Please tell me what you think! Thanks,**

**Megan**


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